The Freeman’s Revival: The Initial Gains

Early in its revival, The Freeman came out weekly as a new magazine. Shortly, the idea of making it a daily started to take shape. I was beguiled and challenged by the possibility of the paper becoming an everyday staple in the lives of Cebuanos.

One of those who supported the idea was the late Senator Jerry Roxas, who visited UV one time upon the invitation of my brother Eddie, then Governor of Cebu.

Senator Roxas figured things out: The Freeman was missing out on a good source of revenue-advertisements. Advertisers were not eager about placing their ads with the paper, because its readership was limited. It was hard to develop wide readership with a paper that came out only once a week.

The senator’s analysis made sense. The Freeman needed to come out more frequently. In a way, we – Mr. Juanito Jabat, Balt Quinain and I – already knew the paper’s weakness earlier on; we just never really made the effort to analyze the problem in depth. We were journalists more than businessmen.

The Freeman couldn’t turn into a daily right away. Going daily meant multiplying the cost of publication five or six times. What if the paper still couldn’t generate enough revenue to sustain itself?

 We decided to come out initially three times weekly. More readers began to pick us up. Our readership consistently improved, so that we slowly had to increase the circulation. Finally, The Freeman became a daily – a real daily, coming out seven days a week, as compared to other so-called dailies that didn’t come out on Sundays.

We also learned a few tricks of the trade. We were the first among the local papers to carry the results of Jai-Alai games, which were played at the fronton in Mambaling, Cebu City. We were the first to devote a whole page to sports news, with matching photos of the action. These helped make The Freeman a favorite among the Cebuano masses.

Advertisers noticed our growing popularity. The Freeman soon became their best choice for local print advertising – wide readership for low advertising rates.

For the very first time, we were seeing revenues coming in. Yet, even up to that time, we did not really think of the paper as a money-making venture. I myself was happy enough that I no longer had to pour my personal money into the paper’s operations.

And those initial gains were just that… initial gains. It was, for the most part, still up-and-down for The Freeman. It was a good thing that we were getting used to hardship since we started, so we would not be easily shaken by new difficulties.

I must admit, though, there were trials that scarred me forever.  It turns out that something is just my eternal Achilles’ Heel – betrayal! I am a person who trusts completely, to a fault. When that trust is betrayed, I get hurt so bad like the pain would never end.

But it shall be another story…